I had real life jury duty this week and was glad to not get picked [View all]

As opposed to DU jury duty

I went in thinking it would be a good time for me to serve and I always find it interesting. Spent all day at the courthouse with breaks here and there to finally be called in for voir dire. This is where the excitement ended. I am generally a patient person. I was paying attention although my mind started to wonder how I would answer certain questions in order to be truthful yet relevant. Other people did NOT listen to the judge or the attorneys and I sat and listened to person after person talk just to be talking. "You say you were arrested and violence was involved? When was this?" " I got a traffic ticket." " What was the violence?" "I felt like the officer did not listen to me." "You state you are a primary caregiver and have no one else to help you?" "Yes, when my child gets home from school." "Do you have someone who could pick your child up from school?" "Yes."

"You have a strong opinion about guns?" "Yes, I think they are used too often. I think the wrong people have them and use them too often." "Do you own a gun?" Yes, for recreational purposes.

"You said you know someone who was a victim of a crime and the police were involved?" Yes, my mom." "When was this and did they have a negative perception of the police at that time?" "My mother got scammed online, she called the police but they told her to call her credit card company."

Ok, I know people were trying to be truthful but I am not kidding you when I say some people answered for 20 minutes or more. My observation: the black folks were victims of being robbed at gunpoint or burgled at home at gunpoint and the white folks had their cars keyed or car windows smashed. One girl answered that her brother had been arrested for stealing a golf cart with his frat brothers.

Realizing how painful it would be to serve on a jury with these people (in my opinion most certainly NOT the peers of the defendants), I was hoping to get let go. As was the criminal attorney sitting next to me! There were just so many people who did not listen to the questions being asked! I believe this jury will be a hot mess but the very patient lawyers found their pool (possibly from all the ones before us we didn't hear earlier) and we were let go at 6:30 pm. I'm good for a couple of years.